In search of rock bottom. The Reporters Sans Frontiers' 6th annual Press Freedom Index has relegated Malaysia to 124th placing, the worst ever position that we have scored in terms of our precious press freedom.
We were 110th in 2002, 104th in 2003, 122nd in 2004, 113th in 2005 and 92nd in 2006. This year's result for Malaysia is a sheer 32-rung drop, a rare occurrence in RSF's annual exercise.
And some spin-doctors at Jalan Riong said Malaysia never had a freer Press than under this present administration!The Internet is occupying more and more space in the breakdown of press freedom violations. Several countries fell in the ranking this year because of serious, repeated violations of the free flow of online news and information.
In Malaysia (124th), Thailand (135th), Vietnam (162nd) and Egypt (146th), for example, bloggers were arrested and news websites were closed or made inaccessible. “We are concerned about the increase in cases of online censorship,” Reporters Without Borders said. “More and more governments have realised that the Internet can play a key role in the fight for democracy and they are establishing new methods of censoring it. The governments of repressive countries are now targeting bloggers and online journalists as forcefully as journalists in the traditional media.”
Check out RSF's findings and comments here.
Indonesia on the up and up where Press Freedom is concerned, by Unspun.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Malaysia's Press Freedom Index at its lowest
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Such is the situation in Malaysia. Instead of progressing we are retrogressing in the field of press freedom. Sometimes we feel like laughing at those goons at mainstream media who try to portray Malaysia as a country with a free press when the whole world could see that we nowhere near there.
ReplyDeleteOh like it's better when you were with The Malay Mail?
ReplyDeleteJust because a few bloggers "questioned" we become worse. Which bloggers have been arrested? None.
This is what you get for 'wanting to know the truth' in BN gomen. It is such a rare commodity that one yearns for it.
ReplyDeleteNext, Nazri will come out strongly in defence of press freedom in Malaysia. He will say that , in Malaysia, we do things our way.
rs,
ReplyDeleteFor someone's who's unconcerned about our worsening ranks in press freedom, you seem reluctant to even reveal who you are. Pray tell us why?
To rs ...
ReplyDeleteWhat's your point? Does two wrongs make a right?
For far too long, most of us have been silent and hope that the situation will improve. Now, after 50 years of independence, we know better don't we. Not only is the general malaise affecting the country today not going away but it's fast descending further into the pits.
Let me ask you: are you aware of the problems affecting this beloved land and what are you personally doing to help stop the rot and more rot?
Rocky, at least, is currently doing something. Yes, he and no other blogger have not been arrested. That's because the bloggers who had been questioned have been responsible in their bloggings and the administration had no cogent proof of lies and elements in their blogs to undermine national unity and security.
You, on the other hand, i believe will just cast aspersions and be happy for what's happening in the country. A word that best describes your attitude and inaction would be treacherous to say the least.
Open your eyes and see what's really happening and then go do something useful for the country and rakyat. Will ya?
mob,
ReplyDeletebecos RS is probably one of those assholes' baruahs..
yeah, RS, in case you didnt know...no, You don;t know..and I am so sure Rocky can put you in his pocket...it was BETTER when he was with the Malay Mail before an asshole decided to bring it down.
yep... Rocky can put you in his backside pocket.
RS, Nathaniel is a blogger, you idiot. RPK too, stupid.
Yea!! We did it again!!!! Yahoo!!! Horray!!!
ReplyDeleteNumber 124. We beat the National Football team who are at 155.
Yes, Malaysia Boleh!!
rs,
ReplyDeletewhen i was the editor of the malay mail in 2004 and 2005 (after Pak Lah has become the PM and while Kalimullah was the GEIC), no 4th floor operative ever called me to tell me what the malay mail could publish or couldn't publish.
they left it to Kalimullah to try and rein me in, you see. which he did not succeed in doing, of course. you see, I was not a stranger to this former journalist called Kalimullah. When I was editor of Business Times, which was reporting on the Malaysia Airlines' debacle then, Kalimullah (who was working with some politicians then, if I'm not mistaken) used to come to the National Press Club and some pubs in Bangsar to provide me moral support and buy me a drink or two (you know we editors didn't get paid that well). Many times he said I was such a brave editor to go against Daim. One day I got sick of him saying that and I told him that as he was working with some politicians who were obviously against Daim, he should get the to do something.
So when Pak Lah made him the GEIC, he knew better than to let the 4th floor dogs try and get me. Salehuddin and then his successor were tasked with keeping watch of what I was doing (that was when Saleh did his press club rounds as I was already Press Club president).
When the Malay Mail "broke" the Pantai Holdings story (Singapore buying shares in Pantai) and published in on the front pages, haha -- all hell broke loose!
Brenden was assigned to come over to the Malay Mail after midnight to check with my editors and make sure that I didn't let through any more stories related to Pantai (we wondered why --- remember, the PM pooh-poohed the story when I re-published it on my blog, only to be forced to admit soon after that, yes, foreign concerns were buying up Pantai shares when they should not be).
Then, RS, we had editors who fought a constant war with the KDN to get a bit more freedom every day.
Today, apart from those calls and interference from the 4th floor boys (and, occasionally, from Info Minister Zam, like last week), we have people in senior editorial posts who have made sure that such editors don't exist.
Of course, there will always be editors and journalists who cherish the freedom of the press and try to push the limits. It's getting harder, though. Such editors and journalists remain my friends and they are still "in" there.
How did you think I get so many "stories" that the newspapers themselves cannot print?
Dancing on the dacing
ReplyDeleteIt was fun for awhile
Then it becomes worst
As the actors and actresses
Wanted more pay and fringe benefits
The directors bowed down
They want to sell movies
So they let the rot flies
Right up to the sky
Then they have others
They too wanted shares
In all the directors fly into rage
This isn’t making movies
This is milking the taxpayers
Now the actors and actresses
Cry for money smile for wealth
Digging up the sweet honey
Horse riding with the powerful ones
Trading secrets brokering cronies
Milk the taxpayers
Selling them about corridors
“Money, money comes to me!”
Aren’t the people fooled?
Slowly the actors and actresses play along
With the powerful ones directing them to pull
The taxpayers get hooked
Of the tricks of the trade
Here we have it
The movies flopped
They get their monies
We got our rages
Ringing hard in our ears
We put them there
Yet they take it out on us
For being blind in our eyes
Dancing on dacing
It was fun for awhile
Now the stories become true
There is no hit; it is just bull shit
well said rocky in response to RS who obviously is still in denial. by the way, i dont know whats happening to the mail coz i have boycotted ( of course included nasty pee) since their suit against you and jeff ooi.
ReplyDeletewell, what more can we said about these shenanigans running nasty pee to the ground. expense (legal) at the company level while they party at their own restaurant in Bangsar. lucky me, i am no shareholder of this nasty pee.
Rocky,
ReplyDeleteNo one seemed to have commented on the recent flash floods in KL a couple of days back, including the blogs.
Torrential rains caused traffic woes in KL and especially along Jalan Chan Sow Lin as reported in papers. However, no one seemed to have mentioned that such floods should not have happened, especially in Chan Sow Lin. The SMART tunnel is supposed to be in operation and supposed to have been the answer to our flood woes. So what happened? If a two hour thunderstorm can cause a flash flood in Chan Sow Lin (which is in the direct vicinity of the SMART tunnels), imagine a prolonged four hour storm! Luckily, the flood occurred during the Raya holidays when there were not much traffic. So has anyone got to answer for this? Is the billon dollar flood mitigation system a hoax or what?
cucuparit
We can now see that wrapping the truth (i.e. hiding or lying to) from the public is like wrapping paper with fire. Still the idiotic and foolish officialdom hardly learn from lessons especially those good-for-nothing ministers.
ReplyDeletemadmonk
whats gonna be the reaction from Zam and loud mouth Nazri?
ReplyDeletepossibly eh..eh..these people dont understand the culture here.eh..eh..wrong parameters are being used..eh..eh we are better than China and Burma..eh..eh.foreign agents trying to run down the country without correct basis...
ooi, Zam wake up please. we are not as stupid as you think.
Bro,
ReplyDeleteAt least the ranking is better than what FIFA have rated FAM. What the football fan afraid is the FAM ranking also will drop further as the SIL is in the commitee & the 4th floor will spin all the news.
What to do...just wait for the next GE lah.
Bro,
ReplyDeleteActually the SIL & the 4th floor guys just want to share the same spot at Singapore ( 144th ). That's all.
So that the SIL's godfather state doesn't look too bad in their Press Freedom.
Kenalah jaga waterface Godfather dia.
What to do...
Press is considered 'freer' as they'll publish whatever junk that's been uttered by the ministers and MPs.
ReplyDeleteAnd they'll report whatever that's being issued without any thought of background checking or practicing a little bit of investigative journalism.
"Today, apart from those calls and interference from the 4th floor boys (and, occasionally, from Info Minister Zam, like last week), we have people in senior editorial posts who have made sure that such editors don't exist."
ReplyDeletetks for the interesting post, rocky. we know now why the powers-that-be are so afraid of online blogs/websites - it allows for quite a bit of unfettered news.